The company's payment will be $85,833 monthly, according to a calculation based on information from the spaceport. The amount due is one-twelfth of the $1 million per-year charged to Virgin Galactic for use of the facilities, Anderson said. Plus, another $2,500 per month is rent for land.

The step is a positive one because it's the first toward greater financial independence for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, said authority board member David Buchholtz.

"We're hoping those can start very soon," he said. "Certainly I look to that as a significant source of operating revenue going forward, so that we don't have to draw on other public sources, as opposed to revenue-related sources, to be able to operate."

Still, Virgin Galactic said late last year it will re-think its plans in New Mexico, if a bill that would prevent lawsuits against spaceflight parts manufacturers fails once more to clear the legislature. Spaceport supporters have said the law change is crucial to the facility's future.

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Virgin Galactic could break its lease agreement with a relatively small penalty, ranging between $500,000 and $2 million, according to the lease.

The $35 million terminal-hangar, dubbed the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space, is the main facility that will be used by the company to launch tourists to suborbital space, once operations start. The first flights could happen late this year.

The rent payments are triggered by benchmarks in Virgin Galactic's lease with the state, Anderson said. A certificate of occupancy was awarded for the terminal-hangar in September, and the building was deemed complete by the architect on Nov. 15, Anderson said.

"Based on the lease agreement, it's 60 days from that date when rent commencement will start," she said. "That's how we got to that date."

Since November, contractors have been working on the minor building details, part of what's known as a "punch list," Anderson said. There may be a few things left to do even after Jan. 15, she said.

"We'll have a plan to complete the rest; there's no loose ends after that date," she said.

Once Virgin Galactic takes the keys to the building, it still has potentially months of fit-out work to customize the interior to prep for operations, officials said.

The London-based Virgin Galactic must pay another type of lease payments, once it starts flights.

Anderson gave an update the spaceport authority board during a regular meeting in Las Cruces.

In addition to the terminal-hangar, the other major component of the spaceport's Phase 1 construction is the installation of communications and security technology. That should wrap up in March, she said.

"The phones are in, the Internet is in," Anderson said. "It's just the mission control consoles and the security they're still working on."

Southern road

Meanwhile, spaceport authority officials said unexpected costs that have cropped up in the budget for building the 23.7-mile southern road to Spaceport America are behind a request for an extra $3 million for that Phase 2 project.

Anderson said 31 archeological sites that need mitigation along the route, a surprise buried utility cable that tracks the route and about 47 miles of fencing to address concerns of livestock ranchers make up the list of new costs. They'll push the budget for the road beyond the initial $12 million originally called for.

"It's unfortunate that all of those things we couldn't have known," she said. "We didn't know there were 31 archeological sites. We didn't know there was a buried CenturyLink cable."

The fact that the overall, $200 million spaceport construction is winding down makes it nearly impossible to rearrange the budget to get more money for the road, Anderson said.

"If it had been earlier in the project, you might have made some trades, but at this point, there are hardly any trades to make," she said.

Buchholtz and Anderson said they've already met with a panel of state administrators and staff about the request. Buchholtz said he's optimistic about the chances for getting the award because it is a capital outlay request and not for operational money. And, he said, it's a project that's important to the Las Cruces area economically.

Spaceport America board member Ben Woods noted that funding for the southern route to the spaceport wasn't in the original spaceport budget. It was added later on after savings from other spaceport construction, he said.

"I just want to make sure we're clear, so that people don't assume it was promised since Day 1," he said. "We recognize it as a need. We're doing the best we can with the assets we have."

Gov. Susana Martinez previously has said that there's been enough public spending on the spaceport.

A 60-day legislative session begins this month in Santa Fe.

Doña Ana County government is the lead agency handling the construction of the road, but the spaceport is paying the bill.

Even if the $3 million is granted, dealing with the surprise design issues will push the road completion date to the spring of 2014, Anderson said. That's about three or four months longer than initially expected, she said.

Diana Alba Soular can be reached at 575-541-5443; follow her on Twitter @AlbaSoular